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Web freedom at a crossroads: The stakes are high

At a U.N. conference in Dubai, Internet regulation was a key issue. | Jay Westcott/POLITICO

By JULIUS GENACHOWSKI | 12/21/12 4:16 AM EST

Last week in Dubai, a U.N. conference on global telecommunications put a stark spotlight on a vital issue: protecting Internet freedom and openness. And it showed that in the months and years ahead, the U.S. must continue to confront powerful forces around the world that seek to suppress the free flow of information online and change the Internet as we know it.

At the Dubai meeting, the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT), the United States fought attempts by a number of countries — including Russia, China, and Saudi Arabia — to give a United Nations organization new regulatory authority over the Internet.

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Some countries pushed to lay the foundation for new censorship. For instance, some provisions would have strengthened the power of governments to block and/or favor online content. Others pushed misguided economic changes — for example, to use international regulations to enable foreign network operators to charge Internet companies, including start-ups in tech incubators and garages around the world, every time someone clicks on a website or uses an app.

These two global agendas – political and economic – combined in a new and alarming way at last week’s conference and pose a real threat to Internet freedom. The global Internet is at a crossroads, and as the discussion in Dubai made clear, too many abroad would take us down the wrong path.

What’s at stake in this battle over the future of the Internet?

First, freedom of expression: The growth of an open Internet, largely without gatekeepers, has connected billions around the world, catalyzing the spread of freedom and democracy.

For many years, countries throughout the world pushed deployment of wired and wireless communications infrastructure in order to promote economic growth. They were right to do so. But few fully appreciated the capability of this infrastructure to empower people with information and the ability to organize. Particularly since the Arab Spring, more regimes are now focused on – and looking for ways to constrict – what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has powerfully named “the freedom to connect.”

The second reason Internet openness matters is economic opportunity: as the world’s greatest platform for innovation, the Internet has unleashed an enormous wave of entrepreneurship, job creation, and economic growth in both developed and developing economies. The World Bank estimates that a 10 percent increase in broadband penetration corresponds to a 1.4 percent increase in GDP in developing countries, and the Internet is projected to generate more than $4 trillion in annual global economic value by 2016. From the tremendous opportunities opening up around cloud computing, to apps and content that enable people everywhere to access health care and education, the Internet is improving lives for the better.